Posted on 03/03/22
Good evening and welcome to The Real World.
משנכנס אדר מרבים בשמחה- The Gemara lists practical applications for how to increase one’s simcha in the month of Adar. For example, Chazal teach that if one has a court case, he should move it to Adar because it is a zman simcha and the person is more likely to be victorious. What is the meaning behind this? How can it be that just because Adar is a happy time, a person is more likely to win their court case; if a person is innocent or they have a good judge, then they will win! How is the outcome of the court case contingent on the simcha of the month?
Tonight, כט אדר, is the yahrzeit of The Tiferes Shlomo, the first Radomsker Rebbe. The Radomsker Rebbe teaches that after Mordechai heard about the fate of the Jewish people, he donned sackcloth to show his mourning over the terrible decree. וַתִּשְׁלַ֨ח בְּגָדִ֜ים לְהַלְבִּ֣ישׁ אֶֽת־מׇרְדֳּכַ֗י וּלְהָסִ֥יר שַׂקּ֛וֹ מֵעָלָ֖יו וְלֹ֥א קִבֵּֽל, [Esther] sent clothing for Mordechai to wear, so that he would take off his sackcloth, but he refused. Mordechai did not want the clothing that Esther sent her.
The Tiferes Shlomo asks: did Mordechai not have clothing? Obviously not! He put on the sackcloth to make a statement about the terrible situation! So why did Esther send him clothing, as if he was out of shirts?
A Yid approached the Tiferes Shlomo for help. He had three daughters and was making a chasunah, but he had no money for the wedding! The Tiferes Shlomo looked at him and said, “Three daughters and no money?! How can that be? In Maseches Kiddushin, the Gemara relates a case of a father of two sons who says to a father of two daughters, שתי בנותיך לשני בני, let your two daughters get married to my two sons with one peruta. (The Gemara discusses whether the two kiddushins are valid with only one prutah, as a Kiddushin is only valid with the amount of a perutah, and concludes that it is valid.)
The Tiferes Shlomo was making a joke with this Yid: we see from the Gemara that the father of two daughters had one prutah, so how can it be that he had three daughters, but no prutah?! Even the Gemara doesn’t bring such a possibility! The Yid went home and tried a new kind of business and he was very successful.
Esther was telling Mordechai: you have it all wrong! While the situation calls for שק ואפר, your tefillos would never be accepted if you are so tzebrochen. A person needs to be b’simcha! Through the clothing, Esther was telling Mordechai that he must daven with simcha, triumph, and spirit; that is the only way that his tefillos would be answered. However, וְלֹ֥א קִבֵּֽל- Mordechai’s response was, “No! I am tzebrochen and my tefillos have to reflect that!”
Who was right?
Later in the megillah, Achashveirosh commands Haman to dress Mordechai in bigdei malchus, the royal clothing, and parade him around town on the king’s horse. Soon afterwards, Mordechai’s tefillos are accepted. The megillah tells us who was right! When Mordechai’s tefillos came from a place of simcha, triumph, and excitement, he was answered.
That is the depth of the story of the Tiferes Shlomo. He made a joke with the Yid to tell him that it would all be ok. Put a smile on your face, daven with the confidence that you will be answered, and then the outcome will be in your favor!
With that we can understand משנכנס אדר מרבים בשמחה. A person should schedule a court case in the month of Adar because the simcha itself is a catalyst for yeshua. When a person feels that middah of simcha, knowing that the Ribbono Shel Olam will take care of them, then they have nothing to worry about.
A very moving video was circling around this week of Lubavitch Yidden in a bunker in Ukraine. They were singing a very spirited Lubavitch niggun- the rousing niggun of Rosh Chodesh Kislev- before davening. Of course they were very scared, but they tapped into the koach revealed by the Tiferes Shlomo: with simcha you have a much better chance of getting answered.
May they be answered, may all Yidden be answered, and may it be a gutten Chodesh Adar. זכותו יגן עלינו